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    <title>ShellCheck: SC2218 – This function is only defined later. Move the definition up.</title>
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    <h1>SC2218 – ShellCheck Wiki</h1>
    <a href="https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/SC2218">See this page on GitHub</a>
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    <h2 id="this-function-is-only-defined-later-move-the-definition-up">This
function is only defined later. Move the definition up.</h2>
<h3 id="problematic-code">Problematic code:</h3>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb1"><pre class="sourceCode sh"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb1-1"><a href="SC2218.html#cb1-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="co">#!/bin/sh</span></span>
<span id="cb1-2"><a href="SC2218.html#cb1-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">myfunction</span></span>
<span id="cb1-3"><a href="SC2218.html#cb1-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a></span>
<span id="cb1-4"><a href="SC2218.html#cb1-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="fu">myfunction()</span> <span class="kw">{</span></span>
<span id="cb1-5"><a href="SC2218.html#cb1-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>  <span class="bu">echo</span> <span class="st">&quot;Hello World&quot;</span></span>
<span id="cb1-6"><a href="SC2218.html#cb1-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="kw">}</span></span></code></pre></div>
<h3 id="correct-code">Correct code:</h3>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb2"><pre class="sourceCode sh"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb2-1"><a href="SC2218.html#cb2-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="co">#!/bin/sh</span></span>
<span id="cb2-2"><a href="SC2218.html#cb2-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="fu">myfunction()</span> <span class="kw">{</span></span>
<span id="cb2-3"><a href="SC2218.html#cb2-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>  <span class="bu">echo</span> <span class="st">&quot;Hello World&quot;</span></span>
<span id="cb2-4"><a href="SC2218.html#cb2-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="kw">}</span></span>
<span id="cb2-5"><a href="SC2218.html#cb2-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">myfunction</span></span></code></pre></div>
<h3 id="rationale">Rationale:</h3>
<p>You are calling a function that you are defining later in the file.
The function definition must come first.</p>
<p>Function definitions are much like variable assignments, and define a
name at the point the definition is "executed". This is why they must
happen before their first use.</p>
<p>This is especially apparent when defining functions
conditionally:</p>
<pre><code>case &quot;$(uname -s)&quot; in
  Linux) hi() { echo &quot;Hello from Linux&quot;; } ;;
  Darwin) hi() { echo &quot;Hello from macOS&quot;; } ;;
  *) hi() { echo &quot;Hello from something else&quot;; } ;;
esac

hi</code></pre>
<h3 id="exceptions">Exceptions:</h3>
<p>None.</p>
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